thoughts on design education and practice

Tag Archives: storytelling

If you haven’t heard of the HBO series, Game of Thrones (GOT), you should have some idea of what it is—it has become quite the cultural phenomenon. There is an underlying pattern with GOT though. Each season, there is the quintessential episode 8. This is the episode that is sometimes referred to as the throwaway episode because of its long and arduous storytelling. Then when all is said and done, it becomes a tortuous hour of episode watching one can ever get through.

But, the silver lining in all this is that episode 8s eventually lead you to the glory (and gory) of episode 9s. Episode 8 in hindsight is needed for all the rollercoaster of emotions of episode 9.

In my experience with design projects, we all have that episode 8 moment. This is when the newness of a project is tarnished and everything you do is tortuous and sometimes you just want to call it quits. The fun is gone. The color choices are all wrong. The font choices become pedestrian. You just want to trash it and start all over again.

But, an interesting thing happens. Something triggers excitement again. Whether it’s a new way to look at the project or a simple editing decision, the episode 8 moment becomes the glorious episode 9 and glory is once again reborn in the project—All the blood and guts you sacrificed are worth it. All is well in the world.

You see, the hardest chapters in your life always give way to bringing the best ones. You just have to make it through your episode 8.